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Egon Spengler
"I collect spores, molds, and fungus." - ''Egon Spengler; Ghostbusters'' Dr. Egon Spengler, Ph.D. is a former professor of paranormal studies at the University of Columbia. Upon his termination, Egon founded Ghostbusters, Inc. along with Doctors Ray Stantz and Peter Venkman. He is considered the brain behind the Ghostbusters and has designed and built nearly all of their equipment, including the proton pack and the Storage facility. Typically, Ray is the only other member of the Ghostbusters who has no trouble understanding Egon's technical jargon. Personality Egon is bookish and socially awkward. In his spare time he collects spores, molds, and fungus. He doesn't express his emotions well and has described himself as "always serious." His childhood may have been normal in many regards, but one strange fact is that he didn't play with toys. He was given part of a Slinky once, but he straightened it. And once, in Ghostbusters II, Egon flatly informed their porter that the proton pack was not a toy. Despite Janine Melnitz's subtle hints that she was attracted to him, he seemed to ignore her romantic advances and kept their relationship platonic. Egon doesn't handle stressful situations well, as evidenced by his statement that he was "...terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought," when facing the Stay Puft Marshmallow man. Occasionally Egon is given to understatement; he initially only states that crossing the streams would be "bad". Egon has a very dry sense of humor, once jokingly stating that most women would be "more interested in his epididymis," rather than his intellect. He is not immune to anger, as under duress he has been shown to swear twice in the first movie. He even lunged at Walter Peck in anger when Peck ordered them arrested for the disruption regarding the shutdown of the containment grid, despite the fact Peck himself was entirely responsible. He will also on occasion smirk and give a wisecrack. Generally speaking though, Egon remains largely pragmatic and straight-to-the-point when it comes to his demeanor. Egon puts few restraints on the scope of his paranormal research. This is evident in Ghostbusters II, as he conducts experiments in his lab in which he deliberately incites couples to argue. When the mood slime is being tested, Egon sleeps with it in order to check its response to nurturing behavior. Science tends to take precedence over people's well being, as Egon is rather detached in his instructions regarding psychological experiments with couples and children in the second movie. History Ghostbusters Egon was very interested in paranormal phenomenon, even while working with both Ray Stantz and Peter Venkman at the university. He and Ray Stantz studied paranormal literature in their spare time and were interested in theories of reincarnation. Egon was usually the first to interview case subjects, adding to their mantra, "we're ready to believe you." Examples were Dana Barrett from her Zuul encounter and her carriage phenomenon with Oscar. Even people Peter called "schizo" always went to either Egon or Ray to describe their paranormal experiences, no matter how far fetched their stories were. For his part, Venkman once took back everything negative he said about him, rewarding the fellow scientist with his favorite candy bar. Egon also developed the technology behind the P.K.E. meter, the proton pack, the trap, and the storage facility, he was also aware of the danger of crossing the streams. He spent a lot of time focusing on the stability of the storage facility, and was concerned about the possibilities of a PKE surge of dangerous proportions. Egon was particularly critical of Walter Peck's actions and his attitude that the Ghostbusters were responsible for the explosion of the containment unit that occurred when Peck ordered a municipal worker to shut the unit down. After their encounter with Stay Puft, Egon suggested an atypical solution when he recommended blasting Gozer's dimensional portal while crossing the proton streams to reverse the particle flow and send Gozer back to her/its dimension. Egon once tried to drill a hole in his own head, (A process known as trepanation.) which "would have worked" if Venkman hadn't stopped him. Ghostbusters II ]] Five years after the events of the first film, the Ghostbusters went their separate ways. Egon was conducting experiments on human emotions. A negative test involved keeping a couple with marriage problems locked in a room for hours and gradually raising the temperature. A positive test involved a girl in a room with dozens of stuff animals and a puppy. He was the first person Dana contacted when her baby carriage took off by itself. Egon recommended bringing in Ray, and they both performed a physical exam on Dana's child Oscar. Egon had a dry sense of humor, of which he used on Peter to bewilder him, and smirked at his friend's cluelessness on what the word "epididymis" was. Egon primarily worked with Ray, both of whom were still living at the firehouse, conducting research on the pink slime. Still very scientifically minded, Egon seems to have loosened up a little bit, letting his sense of humor show and even giving Dana a smile and Peter(who was carried away with photographing Vigo's portrait), a knowing smile. Ghostbusters: The Video Game ]] Egon becomes significantly more 'hands-on' during the course of the video game. He and Ray Stantz instruct the Rookie in the use of the proton pack and its eventual PCS (Paranormal Countermeasure System) upgrades. Over the course of the game, it becomes evident that he was somewhat traumatized by their exhausting trek up the stairs of 55 Central Park West. While in the alternate dimension of the library, Egon is heard to groan, "Oh no," and when Ray asks if he saw something scary, Egon replies, "Stairs, lots of stairs.." Egon still collects spores, molds, and fungus. He has also been revealed to have worked as a coroner in the past. He still has a minor interest in it as a hobby. Trivia * The character of Egon Spengler was named after Oswald Spengler and a classmate of Harold Ramis' at Senn High School named Egon Donsbach who was a Hungarian refugee.Ghostbusters DVD Commentary * In the first movie novelization, Egon displayed a scientific attitude quite early in life, as he would pester librarians into ordering various arcane books to read, conducting a anti-gravity experiment utilizing a jungle gym and hundreds of feet of industrial copper wire(which managed to brown out all of Brooklyn in a crude EMP burst). By observing fellow high school students making out in the park and applying a variety of scientific principles, Egon managed to precisely forecast the exact number of VD cases in New York state for that year. As a result, most parents would express a strong aversion to letting their children associate with him. * Egon is also said to have a brother in the novel. Aside from the aforementioned Slinky, Egon's brother was said to own a train set, the tracks of which young Egon had commandeered to use in an experiment. Egon also mentions a niece (possibly through this same brother) in the video game, corroberating the notion in two mediums that Egon has at least one sibling. * Egon has a fondness for junk food. In the first movie he's shown to be eating Cheez-Its and a candy bar ,and scarfs down the Twinkee he uses to illustrate the level of PKE in the New York area. In the Ghostbusters role-playing game Egon is known to eat large quantities of fish. It's implied that this helped him attain his high intelligence quotient. (fish is regarded by some as a brain nuturing food.) Egon is also shown to enjoy Chinese takeout. * In the novelization Egon tells Janine that his rationale behind his interest in spores, molds and fungi is that he believes that they will become the food of the future. To which Janine flatly replies "remind me to never have lunch with you." * In the West End role-playing game, Egon's motivation is "Soulless Science." Which means he's far more interested in the overall goal of acquiring knowledge, with little to no regard of how it might inconvenience or endanger others. * Egon subtly gives Peter the numbers to the cost of the bill that Peter quotes to the manager of the Sedgewick in the first movie. * During the first commercial, Egon looks down at his mark. * Egon's favorite foods seem to be Thai and Mexican. Egon Spengler for Animated Cartoons Quotes "I think they're more interested in my epididymis." "Don't cross the streams; it would be bad." "Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light." "These readings are off the charts. Now I'll have to make new charts." "This may be a little dangerous." "We'll start off at 50% capacity; that should keep any burning or tissue damage to a minimum." "We eat gods for breakfast!" "We had a half of a slinky... but I straightened it." References Gallery Image:Ghostbusters2.jpg haroldasegon.jpg gb1japanesestorybook044lb7.png gb1pressbook013vp0.png l_8c12f2ffcf654412922f5d49388c25c4.jpg gb065.jpg 9card.jpg EgonSV01.png|Egon as seen in Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Stylized Versions) Egon.jpg Category: Major character Category:Ghostbusters: TVG Characters Category:Ghostbusters Movie Characters Category:Ghostbusters II Characters Category:Ghostbusters: SOS Characters